The latest from Ralph Lauren Watch & Jewelry Co., the joint venture between the American apparel maker and Richemont, are a pair of tourbillon wristwatches, including the brand’s first double tourbillon. With its signature amboyna burl wood bezel, the Ralph Lauren Automotive watches are inspired by the flowing lines and wood-panelled interior of the 1938 Bugatti […]
Back at the SIHH after a four year absence, Girard-Perregaux showed us why it remains one of the world’s leading watch manufacturers.
Trade body The Federation of the Swiss Watch Industry (FHS) just published its annual figures for Swiss watch exports and the decline that began in 2014 continues. Compared with 2015 exports are down 9.9% to SFr19.4 billion, about the same as 2011 levels. Hong Kong, the biggest market, was down 25.1%. Of the the ten largest […]
By Martin Green
Time flies when having fun! That certainly goes for Urwerk, who celebrates this year its 20th anniversary and does so with the UR-T8 which they launched at the SIHH. The brand has come a long way in those twenty years, creating watches like the UR-103, UR-1001 and the EMC Time-Hunter. A signature feature of many of them are of course the three cone shaped discs indicating both the hour as well as the minutes, brought together by a stroke of genius. Of course, this complication is also present in the UR-T8, because what would a 20th-anniversary piece be without it?
SIHH 2017 has come to a close and the Executive Editor takes time out over the weekend to ponder his Top 5 SIHH 2017 picks. Overall, prices have trended down to more manageable but still not completely accessible levels; that said, this new development has made several brands more interesting from an accessibility standpoint and this group of…
When I opened the box in the hotel room, after arriving in Queensland for the Rado-sponsored Brisbane International tennis tournament, I was taken aback. This was not the watch I was expecting. Perhaps years of indoctrination and the current advertising campaign – with a ball bouncing around in a 3D model of a Match Point dial – made me assume it would be a Hyperchrome chrono of some kind, but nevertheless it was a pleasant surprise. Considering the program includes actually playing tennis and that my suitcase was full of laid-back summer clothing, a simple, ultra-light (the name does not lie) three hander on a grey canvas strap was just right. My first impression was… What? This is Rado? Although we shot this watch at Basel 2016, it had slipped under my radar. A closer inspection revealed a very cool concentric engraving pattern on the dial and the trademark ‘floating’ logo; some nice nuances to the overall sporty, simple design. Once I put it on I felt… Comfortable. This is a watch that’s extremely light, but not unsubstantial; it’s still solid enough. The light ceramic case construction and canvas strap make it extremely comfortable and appropriate for summer, when bulky clothes and bulky watches…
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By Martin Green
Ever since its introduction in 2008, the Fine Watchmaking Collection has been Cartier’s calling card when it comes to complicated pieces. Many of them unique and never done before. For the SIHH 2017 Cartier is expanding the collection with new models, as well as some varieties of existing models. It is not a surprise that many of them are focussed on the brand’s unique, mysterious movement, that has become one of the pillars of the Fine Watchmaking Collection.
Audemars Piguet’s latest and greatest. Essentially the same Royal Oak, but in a rainbow plethora of colors. From black to lime green, some may question if their design ideas were a result of offshoring. That said, there is one piece that turned heads at SIHH. The Frosted Gold collection for ladies.…
A brilliant metallic blue sky scattered with stars is a favourite of De Bethune, with the latest being the Milky Way. The DB25L Milky Way uses the brand’s traditional heat blued titanium for its dial, with tiny white gold spheres embedding by hand into the polished surface to represent the stars. And fine gold flakes […]
Ulysse Nardin pulled out all the stops for its first SIHH showing. In a fair charactered by conservative product releases, the Le Locle-based manufacturer presented a strong line-up of novelties, with a strong nautical theme, highlights including the new regatta timer, the technically impressive Marine Grand Deck, as well as this watch – the Classico Manufacture Grand Feu. This very traditional timepiece is jam-packed with smart details and offered at a highly competitive price. At 40mm across, the round steel case is hard to dislike, with its wide polished bezel, slightly clawed lugs set into the case middle and a crown that’s simple, sturdy and not at all fiddly. Nice though the case is, it doesn’t hold a candle to what’s within. The movement is the UN-320 caliber, made entirely in-house, down to the silicium hairspring and escapement – a feat of which the brand is rightly proud (the oft-repeated message at SIHH was that none of the other exhibiting brands made their own silicon hairsprings). The movement finishing is neat, though not astonishing. The rotor, with its blue anchor logo and wave pattern is quite pleasing on the eye. The dial is another story. It’s a ‘grand feu’ enamel dial in vivid,…
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